


The Order

by Nary



Category: True Faith - New Order (Song)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Psychics/Psionics, Dystopia, Gen, Psychic Abilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-02-05 12:32:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1818667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nary/pseuds/Nary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It does get awfully hot sitting out here in the sun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Order

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thursday_Next](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thursday_Next/gifts).



I know you don't want to hear my story. I can see you getting ready to walk away. I'm used to it. Creepy homeless guy, right? I'm not going to force you to come back and sit and listen. Even though I could have, once. I don't do that kind of thing anymore. Soon I probably won't be able to even if I wanted to. 

Oh, a drink. Thank you. I appreciate it, honestly. It does get awfully hot sitting out here in the sun. 

You've heard of the Order of St. Talia, I'm sure. You'd have to have been living under a rock not to have seen them on TV, in their robes and hoods. Every active psychic operative in the world is in the Order, or so they say. Do you actually know anyone who's part of the Order, though? Most people don't - they don't tend to mingle with commoners. 

Well. Now you do, because you've met me.

I was nine when I joined. Although 'joined' makes it sound so... voluntary. I thought it was, back then, but I didn't understand then how they get inside your mind and plant seeds there, let you think it's your own thoughts and desires that are drawing you one way or another. Maybe it _was_ my own idea. I'll never know for certain. At the time I just thought it would make me more powerful - powerful enough to stop anyone from hurting me ever again. When you're nine, that seems like a reasonable wish. 

It's not actually a religious order - that would be so old-fashioned - but there's certainly an element of faith involved. They say that once people join the Order, they never leave. Even death can't break those vows. I don't know if that's true, but I'm learning that, despite all the conditioning, you can walk away if you try hard enough. It doesn't mean you're free, not really, but it feels good at first. Exhilarating. The fear comes later. Like suddenly realizing your car has no brakes - the ride down the hill can still be beautiful, it's just that the end is going to suck a lot more. 

I wish I had an answer for you, but I can't tell the future. I'm not a precognitive - that wasn't my area of expertise, lucky for me. The drugs they give the precogs to accentuate their natural abilities make them spaced out all the time, so they barely notice what's happening in front of them. Too wrapped up in what's going to happen. No, I was a controller. You know, the people in the gloves and dark glasses who sit off to the side in courtrooms and at big board meetings and press conferences and make sure everyone's telling the truth, no one's hiding behind a psychic screen, everything's on the up and up. That's the story, anyway. That's the nice, friendly face of the controllers. 

Yeah, it's okay to laugh. I'm not going to be offended.

The dark side of being a controller is when you get orders from somewhere up above to put an idea in someone's mind. Maybe some politicians need to vote a different way than whatever they were planning to do originally. Maybe someone who was going to sue a corporation decides it's not worth the effort after all. Someone who's suicidal suddenly realizes they have so much to live for. Someone who's got nothing wrong with their life decides to jump off a bridge. A terrorist turns himself in to the police instead of blowing up a football stadium. And maybe a kid with a lot of potential is going to wake up tomorrow with the sudden idea that they'd like to join the Order.

I'll never know how many people's lives were saved as a result of my work. I know how many died. I always kept track, even though they taught us not to. I can only hope that maybe those numbers balance out. 

Do you know why we - they - wear the hoods, the dark glasses? It's not just to look all scary and intimidating and monastic, although that is a welcome side-effect as far as they're concerned. They don't let this part out to the public. The drugs have side-effects, pretty severe ones. Extreme light sensitivity is one. You can see how the skin on my hands is cracked, peeling...

I could stay out of the sun, but why should I make it any easier for them to find me? They weren't happy that I left, in case I talked about how they really work, about how they've got secret agents all through the government and on the boards of all the major corporations and everywhere. Which I guess is exactly what I'm doing, although it's not like I've gone on TV or posted a video on the internet or something. I'm just talking to you. You're the first person who's bothered to sit down and listen. Mostly people take a quick glance at the weird homeless guy and hurry on by.

Honestly, I don't know if it matters if they ever track me down. The withdrawal symptoms might kill me first, or the sun, or the loneliness. They're all I have for family - that's the other thing people don't realize. I was nine when they took me away, after all. They're all I know.

You're starting to shiver. The sun's setting. It'll be dark soon. You probably want to get going before that happens. I'd recommend you be as far away from me as you can, in fact. I do appreciate you sitting to talk with me for this long, though. You've helped me more than you know. Even though I don't have access to the drugs anymore, I can still muster up enough energy to put up a psychic screen that should last through the night, enough to keep me alive until the sun comes up again. I'm sorry I had to drain you for that, but it shouldn't be enough to really hurt you - you might have a headache tomorrow, that's all. 

Good night, and thank you again for the drink.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr at [naryrising](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/naryrising) if you want to ask questions, make requests, or chat!


End file.
